I was in a race yesterday – a 10-mile road-running race. During the run, I remember a point (approximately half way round) when my mind turned to considering selling inspirational social media solutions. The run was going well – I was feeling inspired – and I had one of those “I can do anything!” moments that fellow runners will recognise.

My inspirational thought on the run went something like this:

So, we know that social media offers an unlimited range of diverse solutions. These solutions will never adapt to a “one size fits all” approach, and every client will adapt a social media solution that is unique to them. Therefore, while some unfortunate organisations get constrained by such aspects as, for example, their web technology that is available, or perhaps the budget, or maybe the management resources, or countless other restrictions, we know that the best solutions are those that are driven by inspiration without constraints. For example, think MyStarbucksIdeas or Amazon.com or LinkedIn for inspirational and unique engagement ideas for communities that have revolutionised their online conversations.

Getting the inspired social media solution for any organisation is like getting the right ingredients for the Perfect Cake. Not too much sugar or vanilla, otherwise people won’t eat it, and get the correct quantity of self-raising flour so that the Perfect Cake will rise.

In social media, the right solution ingredients might include targeted blogging, mobile interaction, comments, polling, digital file sharing, online debates, ratings, forums, etc. But which of these ingredients would be right?

I truly love selling social media. I visit my clients with a blank piece of paper, and I let the inspiration flow, asking lots of open questions and delving deeply into the business needs. I don’t talk technology at that first meeting, it’s not allowed!  The best specialists, such as FreshNetworks, design and build inspiring solutions with exactly the right ingredients …. to bake the Perfect Cake!

Tim continues his series on Selling Social Media.

So we now get to the final phase in the Sales Cycle when selling a social media solution – the ‘Close’. Certainly this is the most enjoyable piece, when all the hard work finally delivers the outcome. If all the previous phases have been followed, then I find that this phase is also the easiest, because you have a proposition that meets the priority business needs and that has been successfully tested for a positive reaction from the client during the Propose The Solution phase.

From the clients perspective then this point is critical. It commits your funds and resources, it also ensures that, at the decision-making level, there will be no misunderstanding, and that all stakeholders (including the suppliers and vendors) will be ‘on board’ with the social media project that has been considered and will now be given the go-ahead.

When delivering the Closing question, the single most important lesson is that, at this point (and only this point!), it is important that your question is a closed question, not an open question. So, you are asking for agreement to proceed with the project that has been discussed, within the timescales and subject to certain preconditions (such as contract terms or technology dependencies). How you phrase the question is completely up to you, but when you have asked it, keep quiet and wait for the answer.  There is no need to elaborate, or to buy extra time, you are simply awaiting a Yes or No.

It is quite timely that this series of ‘how-to-sell-social-media’ blogs ends the year with the final phase, ‘Closing’. Thank you for all your comments and feedback, and I will be adding further thoughts and ideas next year. Happy Christmas!

Read all our posts on Selling social media here.

We’re often asked how to build corporate support for social media projects. There are many social media advocates that find it hard to sell internally.  What’s the best approach if you’re a Marketing Director selling a social media proposition to the Board? Or a Department Head keen to include social media in your 2010 budget?

I have recently coached a client in selling his social media business plan internally. As previously explained (see my selling social media series), a key component in the sales process is to associate the business needs to the social media proposition. I see this often overlooked as people present their long lists of features and functions, many of which are superfluous, in the hope that quantity will overcome quality.  No!

So, to do this exercise properly with my client, we booked a meeting room for half a day, and we spent a couple of hours considering his business strategy and the corporate needs of the company. With the key business priorities apparent, we then started linking these to the components of the social media solution. We found that 7 of the company’s top 8 business needs could directly benefit from some social media features and associated community engagement.

We then created a simple powerpoint slide, with 3 columns, Need, Feature, and Advantage. Each business ‘Need’ with the relevant social media ‘Feature’ (or Features in some cases), that delivered a noted ‘Advantage’ to the business (ideally quantified and objective). And, finally at the presentation, as he talked through the slide, I coached him to ensure that he gauged the ‘Reaction’ (from the audience) to each item as he went down the list. ‘NFAR’ – Need, Feature, Advantage, and Reaction.

This turned out to be a great starting point, but there was still more work to do. Building support for any new proposition often requires a mix of 1to1 meetings as well as larger group sessions. Ahead of the team discussion you should meet with some of the key influencers on an individual basis to get buy-in. Just as you would have with any new initiative.
The final point to make is that an important part of selling is management of expectations. And when it comes to social media this is especially important. Social media is frequently over-hyped. As a social media agency, we’re always very keen to manage our own enthusiasm and focus on promising only the things we know we can deliver. Projects are always harder and take longer than people expect. Don’t damage your personal credibility by over-selling social media.

Tim continues his series on Selling Social Media.

You have spent time building an understanding of the business requirements. You have built a short list of prioritised needs; these could be, for example, to grow online revenue, cut support costs, enhance innovation, build the brand, grow customer service, gain partner insight, etc.

It’s now time to move to the next phase of the sales cycle, namely ‘Propose the Solution’. This is the phase that links these business ‘needs’ to the specifics of the social media solution.

A useful memory device that I use in this phase is the acronym ‘NFAR’. Against each Need, align it to a Feature, then explain the Advantage, and finally gauge the Reaction : ‘NFAR’. I use variants of this process depending upon the dynamics of each individual meeting situation, but the basic principle remains the same.

Here’s an example. I am working with an organisation in the air travel sector that needs to market itself outside of the ‘bargain’ holiday brand, i.e. away from its slightly blemished association with ‘laddish’ type short breaks, particularly to some of the cheaper European city destinations, where young people get too much publicity by getting drunk and misbehaving. The marketing director wants to refocus his customers upon those clients (the ‘silent majority’ as he calls them) that enjoy the quieter and more cultural weekend breaks to these same destinations, perhaps visiting museums and local artifacts.

I have proposed a social media solution that builds a vibrant and engaged online community based around this silent majority. It will add tremendous value to them as they share with others their various trip ideas, stories, pictures, blogs, videos, etc.

Let’s look at one social media feature for this social media solution – i.e. the voting feature. So, for example, this will give the opportunity for the community to vote upon the best city museum to visit. Within my NFAR device, this is a social media “Feature”.

I raise this Feature idea, and explain the “Advantage” to the client: The advantage of the voting feature is that this is a simple-to-use capability, that will entice even the most sceptical casual user to simply press a button that registers their vote and, voila, before they know it they are engaging with the others in the community. Even better, if this Advantage can be quantified (e.g. we will gain 1000 extra members of the community) then I am motoring towards a ‘close’, or sale.

But to check that this is of real value to the marketing director, I need to test his agreement that the Feature will have the Benefit, i.e. does he ‘get it’? So, I check, by asking him his “Reaction”. And he says that he loves it, and can really see the value of polling to engage with the community.

Of course, there are many other social media features that I could mention, that could have a similar impact. The polling feature is a simple example that I use in this blog to demonstrate the principle.

I am not yet moving towards the sales close (that will be soon), but first I am methodically addressing the business needs with the appropriate social media features that are relevant, and getting the tick-in-the-box from the client that the social media solution is the answer to his requirements.

Read all our posts on Selling social media here.

Tim continues his series on Selling Social Media.

So, we’ve got the attention of the stakeholder to discuss using social media within the organisation. By seeing a glimpse of some of the incredible achievements in social media for other industries or competitors, this has earned the right for a more detailed conversation with him. It’s now time to dive into more detail with him, and to align some of the various social media benefits against the unique requirements of this particular stakeholder. But what are the unique requirements?

This phase of the sales process is known as ‘determining the needs’.

Let’s use a real-life scenario and a brief recap. Say you have used the ‘elevator pitch’ to a Marketing Director in the travel sector and highlighted that Marriott achieved an additional $5m sales from people that accessed Bill Marriott’s executive blog. This is an impressive statement of fact, and you have his attention; and as a result he puts an hour in the diary for a more detailed chat on the subject.

What do you do now? The biggest mistake is to go to the one-hour meeting and then continue blindly selling the proposition, because you don’t yet know what’s going to be the business driver for this particular stakeholder. When marketing any service (and social media is no different), everybody’s individual business needs and priorities will be different. Grow revenue, cut costs, enhance innovation, improve customer service, and so on; it’s a long list of possibilities.

So, the elevator pitch grabbed his attention, but that won’t be the reason that social media may work for his particular organisation. The specific needs and objectives will be absolutely unique to this organisation, and it is your job to align these unique needs to the social media possibilities.

The rock band Weezer has a great single out at the moment. It’s called “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To”. The brackets are in the title. I love this title because it encapsulates the blundering teenage angst that we can still remember from when we were that age. Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. Similarly, the biggest mistake at this stage is to launch into the one hour conversation with a pushy “I want you to do this because….”, as if you were that teenager all over again! Instead, in this phase of the sales process it is time for a more consultative approach. You ask the questions, and then listen carefully to the answers. A bit like the doctor diagnosing the patient, you take the role of the consultant, and determine the business priorities that are most relevant for this stakeholder.

Read all our posts on Selling social media here.